17: To the Woman Outside the Dollar Store
we watched you sit out there
propped against the ice cooler
dressed in thin blue scrubs
folder of discharge papers
cradled against your chest
a wide plastic bracelet
with all your information
hanging slack on thin wrists
mask moving as you constantly
talked about or to
the people and not people
that walked by
I asked the tired looking cashier
what was your story
while a line of people stood behind
wondering the same thing
as she handed me change and
a worn down defeated look
"the police have already been here"
as if that was that
we didn't leave for a long while
as she sat huddled in fear
and talked with one of us
about the things she was seeing
and the things that were done to her
I wonder
if her family
can save her
from whatever
has her
I'm sorry we couldn't
do enough
to stop her
from becoming
a wounded shadow